THE CALIFORNIA EMPLOYER'S RESOURCE FOR WORKPLACE SOCIAL MEDIA ISSUES
New Hampshire recently passed a law prohibiting employers from requesting the login information for an employee’s personal e-mail or social media account. The law also provides that an employer cannot demand to be connected to an employee through the employee’s personal account (i.e., demand that the employee “friend” the employer), or require the employee to
An Arkansas federal court recently ruled that Tyson Foods, Inc. was within its rights to terminate an employee for directing intimidating Facebook posts to co-workers in violation of the Company’s directive not to contact her co-workers during an investigation. The Facebook posts appear to have been made outside of work hours and away from the Company’s
This past month, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Louisiana all joined the recent trend in enacting laws prohibiting employers from accessing their employees’ personal social media accounts. These states now join 11 others that have passed similar laws (and legislation is currently pending in 28 more states). California added similar provisions to its Labor Code in 2013,
Last year, after a military subcontractor shot and killed 12 people at the Washington D.C. Navy Yard, the University of Kansas placed on administrative leave a journalism professor who tweeted the following from his personal account: “The blood is on the hands of the #NRA. Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters. Shame
With the increased use of social media by the public in general, one of the biggest questions employers face is whether to review an employee’s or job applicant’s social media accounts. An interesting article from today’s Wall Street Journal highlights two different perspectives on this issue. In one corner, Nancy Flynn from The ePolicy Institute